direct effect award powers up food truck program in grand junction

The Business Incubator Center in Grand Junction serves business enterprises in Mesa County and the surrounding region. In 2021, the Business Incubator Center received a $10,000 Direct Effect Award from CHFA to support its food truck operations and expansion of coworking space.

The Business Incubator Center’s commercial kitchen provides 2,500 square feet of space with four conventional ovens, three convection ovens, refrigerators/freezers, dry storage, and three preparation areas. The kitchen serves a mix of food truck operators, caterers, and food producers.

“Over the last several years, our largest growth has been with food trucks,” said Laura Mercier, Director of the Business Incubator Center. “They are growing in popularity in the Grand Valley with the increased number of area events, including the popular Summer Food Truck Fridays Series.”

As the popularity of food trucks has grown, so have the needs to accommodate truck operations, especially the need for parking and plug-in accessibility.

“We were working with several start up food truck owners, and a re-occurring challenge was having access to electrical power needed for the trucks when they were not in use. If the trucks couldn’t be charged, owners were having to store food in the commercial kitchen here at the Incubator Center, which is wonderful, but we do not have enough cooler space to accommodate the full need,” said Mercier.

“The Direct Effect Award from CHFA helped us afford a solution. When we received award, we were able to realize a dream of adding a full plug-in station onsite. We were able to trench an area behind the kitchen to add power and create eight stations for food trucks to park and plug-in, which allows them to keep their refrigerator/freezers and other equipment at appropriate temperatures,” Mercier said.

The plug-in station was completed in May of 2021 and according to Mercier, has been consistently full ever since.

Pictured: Food truck client photo, courtesy of the Business Incubator Center